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'An Appetite for Wonder' is Kerri's book pick

To get a sense of what shaped biologist Richard Dawkins' views as a scientist, you have to read his new memoir, "An Appetite for Wonder," said Kerri.

"You get a sense about what shaped Richard Dawkins' views not just on atheism, although he says in the book that he became an avowed atheist at like 15 years old and never faltered after that," she said. "But also the different experiences he had in public and private schools in Britain."

Dawkins's account of his early years is surprisingly intimate and moving. His was the kind of childhood we might all dream of. His father was a botanist, and certainly also a naturalist, like many Dawkins relatives, and the early years were spent in the best bits of Africa, wandering through the bush with animals, in the company of caring friends and a sprinkle of servants. Dawkins's mother is delightfully described - and both mother and father introduced young Richard to the poetry that remains his pleasure. But he freely admits he didn't catalogue and collect a thousand species - in that regard, he was a disappointment to the Dawkins family naturalist tradition. I wonder if happy childhoods produce scientists, while fraught families turn out novelists?

"She finds depths to this relationship and this family that continue to astound and make you think about your own family and makes you think about science and memory, but I don't want to give away too much," Stephanie said.